The New Jerusalem
Today’s second reading speaks about St. John’s vision of the New Jerusalem. In the vision, he hears the voice, “Here, God lives with men… and His name will be God-with-them”. What makes it possible for men to live with God in His presence? The description of the new or heavenly Jerusalem answers this question.
The city had as many as 12 gates. Anybody could use these gates to enter this city, yet John mentions that the city had no temple available. No one other than the Jews could enter the holy temple of Jerusalem. It means the new heavenly city of John’s vision was free from all divisions and discriminations. There was absolute unity, love, and peace. Where there is wholeness there is God – and there, God makes His dwelling among men.
The 12 gates have another symbolic meaning. In John’s Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples that He is ‘the Gate’ to eternal life. Later, Jesus deposited the truths of this Kingdom in the teaching ministry of His disciples and invited them to preach it to all. They in turn become the ‘gates’ to enter Gods Kingdom. Anybody is welcome to the New Jerusalem, the city of God, provided they enter through the ‘gates’ proclaimed by His Apostles.
Christian living should become an example for unity. In the first reading of today the apostles, through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, toiled to bring about unity in the church. The division between the Jewish Christians and the Pagan Christians threatened the unity of the early church. The apostles came up with a workable solution to bring Christ back into the Church.
What kind of division takes God away from our church, family, or individual life? Let us enter the New Jerusalem of our day – today – living and putting aside all our differences.
–Fr. Ranjan D’Sa OCD